Toy figure with gyroscopic element

ABSTRACT

A toy having an internal gyroscopic element is disclosed, including ways of using the toy. A toy having a gyroscopic element is intended to provide an entertaining play experience by providing resistance to movement of the toy when it is used in, for example, a role playing situation. Movement of the gyroscopic element may manually be initiated by a person playing with the toy, and the duration and degree of movement of the gyroscopic element may be limited by natural forces.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is based upon and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/688,040, filedJun. 6, 2005. U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/688,040 isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

Examples of gyroscopic elements and toys in which gyroscopic elementsare used can be found in U.S. patents and Patent ApplicationPublications numbered: RE 30299; U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,650,067; 3,726,146;4,463,515; 5,353,655; 5,683,284; 5,823,845; 5,957,745; 6,030,272;6,346,025; 6,612,895; 6,676,476; and US2002/0102906. The disclosures ofthe aforementioned patents and patent application publications areincorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all purposes.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure relates generally to handheld toys havingincluded gyroscopic devices. An object of a toy with a gyroscopicelement may be for a person to initiate rotation of the gyroscopicelement and then play with the toy, with the gyroscopic elementimparting a novel play experience to the toy. In some methods of playwith the disclosed toy, a gyroscopic element in a toy may providemotion-related feedback and stability control. The toys of the presentdisclosure will be understood more readily after consideration of thedrawings and the detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a side view of a toy figure according to the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 2 is side view of a gyroscopic element according to the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of an exemplary gyroscopic element accordingto the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure relates to a toy figure utilizing a toy body anda gyroscopic element. The components of a toy figure according to thepresent disclosure are shown in FIGS. 1-3.

Shown generally at 10 in FIG. 1, a toy figure includes a toy body 11having a torso 12, head 13, arms 14, legs 15 and decorative accoutrement16. Various aspects of the illustrated embodiment of the toy figure arebased on an adventure story in which a superhero overcomes variouschallenges. Accordingly, the characteristics of the toy figure resemblea known superhero figure or other similar toy figure. However, otherembodiments according to the present disclosure may be based on one ormore other themes, plots, or back stories, or no particular theme. Forexample, the toy figure may take another humanoid shape, or it may takethe form of a vehicle, a unique and novel toy shape, or any otherdesired configuration. As well, the toy figure may be made of anysuitable material, including plastic, wood, metal, etc., or anycombination of appropriate materials. In the disclosed embodiment, thebody of the toy figure is constructed predominantly of a plasticmaterial with some portions being constructed of rubber or metal.

As shown in FIG. 1, a torso 12 of a toy FIG. 10 may typically house agyroscopic element 20 in an internal space. Torso 12 may be constructedof multiple torso portions that may be mated together in any appropriatemanner. For example, magnetic attachment, pin joints, Velcro, snaps, orany other appropriate attachment device may be used. In the disclosedembodiment, front and back halves of the torso include male and femalemating portions held in fixed arrangement with adhesive. A portion ofgyroscopic element 20, for example, a handle 21 or other manualacceleration device, may protrude from the inner space of the torso toallow a user to activate the gyroscopic element during play activity.

Gyroscopic element 20 may embody the principle of conservation ofangular momentum and may use that principle to impart novelentertainment value to a toy figure. A gyroscope essentially embodies aspinning wheel mounted on an axle. Typically, as seen in FIGS. 2 and 3,a gyroscopic element 20 may include a rotor 23 configured to rotatefreely about an axis of rotation. For example, upon receiving arotational force, rotor 23 may rotate around a spin axis 50. The rotorof the gyroscopic element may be constructed of any suitable material,though in the disclosed embodiment the rotor is constructed of a metal.In addition, the rotor may be configured as a singular piece ofmaterial, or the rotor may be configured as multiple portions 24 ofmaterial making up a singular rotor body. Although it is possible toconstruct a rotor of multiple independently-moving portions of material,for the rotor to work to its best effect it may be preferable that themultiple elements be configured to move as a unitary body.

A gyroscopic element 20 may be housed within a torso 12 of a toy FIG. 10such that rotor 23 may undergo uninhibited rotation about spin axis 50.Torque generated by spinning rotor 23 may cause the gyroscopic elementto resist changes in an orientation of its axis of rotation and maylikewise cause a toy figure containing the gyroscopic element to resistchanges in its positioning. In an illustrated embodiment, gyroscopicelement 20 may be housed in a toy figure used in a flying adventuregame, with the spin axis 50 of the gyroscopic element alignedperpendicular to a long axis 60 of the toy figure. In a differentconstruction, spin axis 50 may be aligned parallel to the long axis ofthe toy. When used in a flying adventure game, a toy figure containingsuch a rotating gyroscopic element may give feedback to a user such thatthe user encounters resistance when attempting to turn the toy figure inan arcuate path, or when causing the toy figure to ascend or descend, orwhen making any other movement with the toy figure that alters theorientation of the spin axis. Such feedback may also be present when thegyroscopic element is present in a land-based toy, or a water-based toyor toys used in many other play situations.

A gyroscopic element 20 housed in a toy FIG. 10 may be activated throughany appropriate means. In the illustrated embodiment, gyroscopic element20 may be activated by an integral pull cord 22 attached to a handle 21which, when manipulated by a toy user, causes the rotor to accelerateupon its spin axis. After fully accelerating the rotor, the pull cordmay release from the rotor and be held by the toy user. Alternatively,the pull cord may be held within the toy body on a spindle, or mayautomatically retract into the toy body until further use. In anillustrated embodiment, the pull cord retracts into the torso of the toyfigure after the rotor is accelerated by manual manipulation of the pullcord and handle.

Rotational motion of the rotor of the gyroscopic element may betransmitted from the pull cord and handle to the rotor via a gearassembly 30 including a system of gears, seen in partial side view inFIG. 2 and in exploded view in FIG. 3. The rotor may be attached to thegear assembly with a rotor bracket 25. The gear assembly may includefirst 35, second 36 and third 37 gears housed in a gear assembly shellincluding gear assembly shell portions 31A and 31B. As noted above, amanual acceleration device for the gear assembly may be configured as apull cord 22 with one end of the cord mounted to a handle 21 and theother end of the cord attached to, and wrapped around, a spool 32. Thepull cord may be guided from its point of insertion in the torso to thespool by one or more cord guides 26, if necessary.

The gear assembly may serve to couple the manual acceleration device tothe rotor for inducing rotation in the rotor. To initiate rotation ofthe rotor 23 of gyroscopic element 20, a user may grasp the handle 21attached to pull cord 22 and draw the pull cord away from the body 11 ofthe toy figure, whether that body has a humanoid shape or some othershape. Drawing the cord out of or away from the body of the toy figuremay cause the cord 22 to unwind from the spool 32. Since the cord maybe, preferentially, attached to the spool by one of its ends, unwindingthe cord may cause the spool 32 to rotate on its axis in a firstdirection. For repeated winding and unwinding of the spool, it may beuseful to include a resistive device in the gear assembly, such that theresistive device provides a counter-rotational force on the spool 32when it is initially rotated. A counter-rotational force may be providedby, for example, a spring 33 attached to one portion of the spool. Inthe illustrated embodiment, a spring 33 is attached to an inner surfaceof the spool 32 at one of its ends and to one portion of the gearassembly shell 31B, or another relatively immovable structure, at itsother end. When the pull cord is pulled to initiate movement of therotor 23, the spool may impart a force upon the spring 33, causing it tobecome partially uncoiled (in the illustrated embodiment; in otherembodiments, the spring may initially be stretched longitudinally andthen return to its original configuration). When a pulling force is nolonger applied to the pull cord, the spring may recoil, causing thespool 32 to rotate in a direction counter to its initial rotation and torewind the pull cord 22. In this manner, the pull cord may repeatedly bepulled and rewound, allowing a user to impart progressively increasingrotational speeds to the rotor 23.

As noted above, a force applied to the pull cord will induce rotation ofthe spool 32 and, eventually, the rotor 23 of the gyroscopic element.Transfer of rotational motion may proceed from the spool to the rotorvia an assembly of gears 35-37. In the illustrated embodiment, threeintermeshed gears form the operative connection between the spool 32 andthe rotor 23. In a first interaction step, rotation of the spool 32 mayinduce rotation of a first, power gear 35 that is operatively coupled tothe spool. The power gear 35 may be permanently coupled to the spool 32or it may be coupled the spool in a nonpermanent manner. In anotherembodiment, the spool and the power gear may be configured as a singlepart. In the illustrated embodiment, the power gear 35 sits on an uppersurface of the spool 32 and is rotationally coupled to the spool via apair of tabs on the gear that insert into slots 34 on an upper surfaceof the spool. The power gear 35 may further interact with other gears ina gear assembly, or it may interact directly with the rotor. However, inan illustrated embodiment the power gear operates on the rotor throughan interaction with a number of other gears.

The power gear, as shown, may interact with a second, transfer gear 36.The transfer gear 36 may include two “layers” of gear teeth ondifferent, parallel planes. The two layers of a given gear may or maynot have the same number of gear teeth, depending on designconsiderations. A lower set of gear teeth may interact with the powergear 35, while an upper set of gear teeth may interact with a next gearin the assembly, a drive gear 37. Drive gear 37 may also have gear teethon two parallel planes. The lower set of gear teeth may interact withthe transfer gear 36 to receive the rotational force that was initiatedat the spool 32 and passed through the power gear 35. The upper set ofteeth may, in turn, transfer that rotational force to the rotor 23. Therotor may include a pinion gear 38 on its lower surface, with the piniongear 38 configured to receive the rotational force from the drive gear37. As the gear assembly may be housed within a gear assembly shell, itmay be necessary to provide a way for the rotational force of the gearsto be passed through the gear assembly shell to the rotor. In theillustrated embodiment, a shell slot 39 is provided in the gear assemblyshell; a portion of drive gear 37 projects out of the shell slot toengage the pinion gear 38 of the rotor, which sits near enough the shellslot to engage the drive gear.

Of note, although the words “upper” and “lower” have been used to denotethe different layers of gear teeth on a given gear, the gear assemblyneed not be arranged in a series of horizontal planes. It is within theskill of one in the art to mount the gears in predominantly verticalplanes, or to have some gears in vertical planes and some in horizontalplanes, etc. Also, although the mechanical interaction is shown asinvolving tooth-to-tooth gear interactions, it is also possible that themechanical interaction could be a frictional interaction betweensmooth-surfaced gears. Of course, appropriate materials would have to beutilized to allow rotational force to be passed between the gears in theabsence of an arrangement using gear teeth to pass the force.

As noted above, it is possible to repeatedly apply force to the pullcord 22 to progressively increase the speed of the rotor 23. Such arepeated application of force to the rotor 23, without the rotorreversing direction during the rewinding of the manual accelerationdevice, may be achieved through the use of a clutch device. For example,it may be possible to provide for unidirectional acceleration (i.e.acceleration of the rotor consistently in one direction with repeatedapplications of a pulling force on the pull cord) with use of aratchet-and-teeth assembly. The spool of the disclosure could havespring-loaded teeth that engage an inner surface of the power gear inone direction but then retract to allow the spool to rewind the pullcord. In an illustrated embodiment, the clutch effect is implemented byseating the drive gear 37 in a float slot 40 within the gear assembly.

In the illustrated embodiment, the power gear 35 and the transfer gear36 each rotate about their individual axes, which are centered on axlesmounted into a lower half 31B of the gear assembly shell. Each of thepower and transfer gears is relatively fixedly mounted to the gearassembly shell 31 B. However, in the illustrated embodiment, the drivegear is mounted on an axle that is configured to slide within a roughlyoval float slot 40; as such, the position of the drive gear 37 isvariable in the gear assembly. The float slot may be orientedsubstantially perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the rotor suchthat the drive gear 37 may move near to the pinion gear 38 of the rotor23 or it may move away from the pinion gear 38 of the rotor 23. Asillustrated, the drive gear 37 moves near to, and engages with, thepinion gear 38 of the rotor when an accelerating force is applied to thepower gear 35 (i.e. when the pull cord is pulled to accelerate therotor). The drive gear 37 moves toward the pinion gear 38 because of theforce applied to the drive gear 37 by the transfer gear 36. When thepull cord is being rewound (i.e. there is no accelerating force beingapplied) the gears of the gear assembly 30 move in a reverse directiondue to the resistive effect of the spring 33 attached to the spool 32.The transfer gear 36 thus applies a reverse rotational force to thedrive gear 37, causing the drive gear 37 to move away from an engaginginteraction with the pinion gear 38 of the rotor.

In addition to being accelerated by a pull cord-type device, gyroscopicelement 20 may also be mounted such that rotor 23 partially protrudesfrom torso 12. In such a configuration, rotational motion may beimparted to rotor 23 by frictional contact with a given surface. Such asurface may be a table, a floor, a user's hand, or any other suitablesurface for imparting rotational motion on the rotor. Alternatively,gyroscopic element 20 may be activated through the use of mechanicallevers or other means. For example, in one embodiment differentportions, for example, legs, of the toy figure may be spaced apart in anoutward position before the toy figure is used. A second position of thelegs may be an inward position. Movement of the legs from an outwardposition to an inward position may, through appropriate coupling, impartrotation to a rotor 23 of the gyroscopic element 20. Such coupling mayoccur through mechanical linkages, or magnetic interactions, or othersuitable coupling force. Other means of imparting rotational motion togyroscopic element 20 are possible, including rack and pinion linkages,etc.

For play with the described toy figure, a user may initially grasp thehandle 21 of a provided pull cord 22. The user may extend the pull cord22 away from the body of the toy figure a single time to initiaterotation of the rotor 23 of gyroscopic element. A single pull of thepull cord may be enough to impart a desired play effect to the toyfigure, but a user may initiate multiple cord pulls to increase therotational speed of the rotor and the gyroscopic effect. Once desiredrotation is initiated, the user may grasp the toy figure in one of hisor her hands and move the toy figure about in space. Such movement bythe user may encounter a degree of resistance on the part of the toyfigure, as the gyroscopic element imparts some measure of inertia to thetoy figure. The encountered resistance by the toy figure may cause thetoy figure to provide an enhanced play experience to the toy user.

It is believed that the disclosure set forth above encompasses multipledistinct inventions with independent utility. While each of theseinventions has been disclosed in its preferred form, the specificembodiments thereof as disclosed and illustrated herein are not to beconsidered in a limiting sense as numerous variations are possible. Thesubject matter of the inventions includes all novel and non-obviouscombinations and subcombinations of the various elements, features,functions and/or properties disclosed herein. Similarly, where any claimrecites “a” or “a first” element or the equivalent thereof, such claimshould be understood to include incorporation of one or more suchelements, neither requiring nor excluding two or more such elements.

Inventions embodied in various combinations and subcombinations offeatures, functions, elements, and/or properties may be claimed throughpresentation of new claims in a related application. Such new claims,whether they are directed to a different invention or directed to thesame invention, whether different, broader, narrower or equal in scopeto the original claims, are also regarded as included within the subjectmatter of the inventions of the present disclosure.

1. A toy figure comprising: a housing, wherein the housing defines anouter surface and an inner space; and a rotor supported for rotationwithin the inner space of the housing; and a manually operableaccelerating device drivingly coupled to the rotor.
 2. The toy figure ofclaim 1, wherein the housing embodies a humanoid figure.
 3. The toyfigure of claim 1, wherein the manually operated accelerating device iscapable of movement in a first and a second direction.
 4. The toy figureof claim 3, further comprising a spring in operative communication withthe accelerating device, the spring applying a countering force on theaccelerating device when the accelerating device is moved in a firstdirection.
 5. The toy figure of claim 4 wherein the accelerating devicecomprises a pull cord.
 6. The toy figure of claim 1, further comprisinga gear assembly comprising a plurality of intermeshed gears, the gearassembly transferring rotational force to the rotor in response tomanual manipulation of the gear assembly.
 7. The toy figure of claim 6,wherein the gear assembly is configured intermittently to be drivinglycoupled to the rotor.
 8. The toy figure of claim 6 wherein at least oneof the plurality of gears includes a site for direct interaction withthe accelerating device.
 9. The toy figure of claim 8 wherein the gearassembly comprises at least three gears drivingly coupling theaccelerating device to the rotor.
 10. The toy figure of claim 9 whereinthe gear assembly includes three gears.
 11. The toy figure of claim 10,wherein the gear assembly includes a powered gear rotatingly driven bythe acceleration device, a drive gear adapted to rotate the rotor whenrotated, and a transfer gear drivingly coupling the powered gear and thedrive gear.
 12. The toy figure of claim 11 wherein the rotor includes anintegral pinion gear configured to engage the drive gear.
 13. The toyfigure of claim 1, further comprising a gear assembly coupling theacceleration device to the rotor, where the gear assembly comprises aplurality of gears and a clutch means for reversible engagement of therotor.
 14. The toy figure of claim 13, wherein the pull cord deviceinitiates rotation of the plurality of gears and further wherein thegear assembly mechanically engages the rotor.
 15. The toy figure ofclaim 14 wherein the gear assembly includes at least three gears. 16.The toy figure of claim 14 wherein the mechanical interaction is agear-to-gear interaction.
 17. The toy figure of claim 16, furthercomprising an axle supporting the rotor for rotation and a pinion gearmounted on the axle and further wherein the axle is coaxial with an axisof rotation of the rotor.
 18. The toy figure of claim 13 wherein therotor comprises a plurality of rotor disks adapted to co-rotate.
 19. Atoy figure, comprising: a housing, wherein the housing defines an outersurface and an inner space; and a rotor supported for rotation withinthe inner space of the housing; and a manually operable acceleratingdevice drivingly coupled to the rotor; and clutch means for drivinglycoupling the manually operable accelerating device to the rotor.
 20. Atoy figure, comprising: a housing having a substantially humanoid form;and a gyroscopic element supported within an inner space of the housing,the gyroscopic element comprising: a rotor; and a manually-activatedacceleration device; and a gear assembly including a plurality of gearsdrivingly coupling the acceleration device to the rotor, wherein manualactivation of the acceleration device produces rotation of the rotor,and rotation of the rotor produces resistance to manual movement of thetoy figure.